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A VIRTUAL TOUR OF A PHILIPPINE REEF
Presented by Charles & Linda Raabe
MOALBOAL
09 April 2007 - Today it was my distinct honor to have been invited by
three fellow reef enthusiasts that hail from the capitol city of
Manila, a 2 hour flight from the north, to spend a few hours
snorkeling over the pristine reefs of Moalboal, known world-wide as a
scuba diving destination.
Randell Tiongson, Justing Chu and B.J. Legaspi , all members of ReefPhilippines.com,
picked Linda and I up at 6:30am for the two and a half hour drive south
to the city of Moalboal. Once we arrived, we were treated to a beach
side restaurant for breakfast before heading into the water. While
eating, one could not help but to look out over the tropical waters and
anticipate seeing what had been described to me as a pristine reef
holding an immense diversity of both corals and fish.
A short walk along the shop lined sea wall found ourselves at
the Ocean Globe Dive Shop which we used as our jumping off point. I did
not waste any time getting myself ready and as usual, was the first one
into the water. From shore, it was a mere 50 yard swim over the grass
beds before I found myself in ten feet of water looking down at what
one thinks of when the word "reef" is evoked. I was quite astonished to
see the amount of, and distribution of soft corals mixed in amongst the
stony corals. For me, it was also a pleasant surprise to see tangs,
angelfish, butterflys and schools of chromis. Not something I get to
see on my own "home" reef, nor my aquarium for that matter.
About one hundred feet further out, a vertical reef wall
descends to about fifty feet deep and appears to form a large shelf
with yet another wall beginning and I assume it drops down to the
sea floor. If you allow yourself to drift slowly along the drop off, a
good many larger parrot fish and schools of tangs can be seen at depth
going about their daily lives. The wall itself is home to and covered
by, a great many coral species. This is one destination that I will
surely be returning to this summer.
Again, I would like to thank the members of ReefPhilippines
forum for their invitation, hospitality and friendship. This is one day
that I will not soon forget. Thank you!
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